After months of anticipation and promotion around the city, the Norwegian Epic arrived at the Port of Miami in early July. The 1,081-foot cruise ship, the largest in the company’s fleet, is in port on Saturdays and has multiple restaurants, performance spaces, and entertainment options for groups.
Dining venues range from Italian to classic steak houses and alfresco eats. Cagney’s Steakhouse, on deck seven, can seat 146 and offers views off the stern of the ship through a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. For international flair, Italian restaurant La Cucina mimics a Tuscan courtyard and accommodates 182 indoors at the aft (that’s the back for non-sailors) of the ship. An open deck space, Spice H20, holds 156 people and has a stage that rises from the bottom of the pool, backed by a 25-foot projection screen.
Ideal for meetings, the Epic Theater can host 681 amid graduated rows of plush chairs. The theater is also home to the ship’s Legends in Concert celebrity impersonator show, Nickelodeon interactive programs, and the Blue Man Group performances.
Local entertainment company Cirque Productions combines dinner and entertainment with its Cirque Dreams and Dinner Show in the Spiegel Tent. Designed like the inside of a circus tent, the bilevel dining room can seat 167 at tables arranged in a ring around the central performance area, where equilibrists, acrobats, singers, and comedians entertain throughout the meal service.
Miami-based ice sculpture and rental company So Cool Events has also created the first ice bar at sea on the Epic. With walls and furniture made entirely of ice, the bar can host groups of 25 guests—outfitted in complimentary parkas and gloves—for Svedka and nonalcoholic cocktails. Cocktail parties can also be held in Bliss Ultra Lounge for groups of 116 or in the nearly 6,500-square-foot Posh Beach Club, which becomes an open-air nightclub for 104 people each evening for guests of the Villas staterooms.
Other entertainment venues include Fat Cats jazz lounge, which can seat as many as 160, and Headliners comedy club, which seats 259 for shows or holds 420 for receptions. Onboard entertainment can be booked for groups on request.
